


feeling warm and bright

by embraidery



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: F/F, Falling In Love, Golden Age (Narnia), lady knight - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:49:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29100564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/embraidery/pseuds/embraidery
Summary: Yuliana tosses her long hair over her shoulder as she turns to grin at the crowd. Her whole family cheers and tosses grains of rice. Susan smiles as she applauds. The lady knight meets Susan’s eyes. She grins but quickly hides her smile, bowing to her queen, hair cascading down around her before she flicks it back over her shoulder.
Relationships: Susan Pevensie/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	feeling warm and bright

While the lady knight looks solemn, as she should, her joy is obvious in her barely-suppressed smile and the creases at the corners of her eyes. She holds the pommel of her sword with both hands as she looks up at Peter. 

“I hereby dub thee, Lady Yuliana,” Peter announces, tapping both her shoulders and head with the flat of his sword.

Yuliana tosses her long hair over her shoulder as she turns to grin at the crowd. Her whole family cheers and tosses grains of rice. Susan smiles as she applauds. The lady knight meets Susan’s eyes. She grins but quickly hides her smile, bowing to her queen, hair cascading down around her before she flicks it back over her shoulder.

\---

Susan’s growing tired of this diplomatic voyage. They’ve had long days full of meetings and dinners that leave no time to explore the island, and Lucy in particular is chafing against the responsibility. But finally, one afternoon, they’re free to take one of the Duke’s boats for a pleasure ride. 

Lady Yuliana sits with Susan in the back of the sailboat, enjoying the sea spray coming off the wake. Susan relishes the opportunity to let her hair down, so to speak. She props her chin on the edge of the boat to better take in the view. Lucy comes up behind her and loosens her braid, arranging her now-wavy hair over her shoulders like one of the starlets they’d seen in movies back in England. Yuliana demurely looks away, but something makes Susan reach out to touch the other woman’s shoulder. “It’s quite alright, Yuliana.”

“As you say, your Majesty,” the knight murmurs, inclining her head, and Susan smiles. 

It’s not much later that Yuliana takes the pins out of her own hair, uncoiling her long braid from the back of her head, and leans over the side of the boat herself.

“Look, your Majesty!” she cries, pointing down into the water.

Susan and Lucy join Yuliana at the rail and smile down at a pod of pink dolphins playing in the wake of the boat. One of them rolls over in the water and smiles at them, waving one fin. Lucy squeals in delight and waves back.

Their afternoon is one long stretch of sunlight-dappled water and gentle breezes. By the end, Susan is in the best mood she can remember in quite a while. When Yuliana offers Susan her hand to help her out of the boat, Susan accepts. 

\---

Susan feels her exhaustion all the way down to her toes, pressing her onto the stone bench on Cair Paravel’s balcony, begging her to sleep. She knows she needs to go back into the party, and she will, but she wants half a second to rest.

She jumps to her feet when someone walks out onto the balcony. She turns to greet them with an artificial smile, but it’s only Yuliana. Susan smiles in relief and sits back down.

“Yuli!”

Yuli dips into a half-bow, inclining her head. “My lady.” Susan just catches the edges of her smile as she raises her head.

“You may call me Susan,” she replies, as she always does. She expects Yuli to demur, as  _ she  _ always does, but Yuli sits down next to her.

“You know, I think I will, my—Susan.” Yuli smiles at her, slow and sleepy; Susan can tell it has been a long day for them both. 

Something warm and soft uncurls in Susan’s stomach at the phrase “my Susan,” though she knows full well the phrase wasn’t Yuli’s intention. She holds Yuli’s gaze for slightly too long before facing forward again and pressing one hand to her forehead.

“How long is it until I can politely slip away?” she sighs, intending a light-hearted tone, but she can’t quite manage it.

Yuli hums sympathetically. “I can make your excuses for you.”

“Would you?” Susan asks, court-language slipping. “It would mean ever so much.” 

“Certainly.” Yuli shrugs. “Anyway, a queen should be able to ‘slip out’ of her own party whenever she likes.” 

Susan tries to laugh, but the sentiment hits too close to home, and her laugh turns into a gusty sigh. “There’s an ocean between  _ should _ and  _ would, _ for a queen.” 

“How well I know that,” Yuli murmurs, casting her gaze to her feet. She looks up then, a melancholy little smile in the corner of her mouth, and offers her hand to Susan. Susan puts her hand in Yuli’s as she stands. It’s a strong hand, well-calloused, and Susan’s loath to let go. A shiver runs down Susan’s back as Yuli brushes her lips over the back of Susan’s hand.

“Good night, Su--my lady.” Yuli leaves the space of one breath between them before she turns and goes back into the castle, skirt swirling behind her. 

Susan wraps her arms around herself and looks out over the ocean, thinking and dreaming, remembering the feel of Yuliana’s hand in her own.

**Author's Note:**

> title from "dancing in the moonlight." inspired by a chocolatebox exchange prompt, but it didn't exactly want a happy ending, like the recip probably would have preferred. (not that it's an unhappy ending!)


End file.
